Trump: 'Already won' against Iran, but nuclear threat remains

The United States has already delivered a decisive blow to Iran's military and leadership, but the conflict cannot end until Tehran is permanently blocked from obtaining a nuclear weapon, President Donald Trump said Thursday in an extensive interview with Newsmax's Greta Van Susteren.

"We've already won, but I want to win by a bigger margin," Trump said. "We have destroyed their navy, destroyed their air force, destroyed all of their — if you look at their anti-aircraft equipment, their radar equipment, their leadership. Their leadership is destroyed. We've destroyed everything."

Trump described Iran as severely weakened both militarily and economically, saying only firm guarantees against nuclear development will secure a lasting outcome.

Still, he said, Iran's capacities to recover from inflicted damage have been severely degraded. "If we leave right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild, if they ever could rebuild," he said.

Still, Trump said military gains alone are not sufficient.

"But it's actually not good enough," he said. "We have to have guarantees they will never have a nuclear weapon."

Trump said he believes Iran would use a nuclear weapon if it acquired one.